Demoscene Marvels – Know Your History

I started a while ago a special play list at my YouTube channel SACReleases, which showcases over 400 videos (as of now and growing) related to the demo and art scenes already, to highlight the best demos across all computer platforms over the past 18 years. 

I called it the “Demoscene Marvels”, because I think that those productions are indeed marvels that should not be forgotten. The first production in my marvels list is from 1991 and the latest on from 2009.

 

If you thought that the old 8bit and 16bit classics are dead, think again! The last demo from the Commodore 64 in my marvels list is from 2007 and the last Commodore Amiga production in this list is from this year. Surprised?

Demo Marvels Play List at YouTube.com

The list includes 69 videos as of today, representing 61 different demos and intros from the Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, MS DOS PC and Windows 32bit.

The list is useful for oldskool demosceners who might have missed a few productions over the years and also for newbie’s to the subject, who would like to get a picture of the productions that were created by scenes around the world for the simple reason that they can.

I listed the productions in chronological order that you are able to see the progression and advancements made by the demo scene over the years.

List of Demos (Chronologically)

1. Hardwired by The Silents (TSL) & Crionics for Commodore Amiga (1991)
2. Unreal by Future Crew - PC (1992)
3. State Of The Art by Spaceballs - Amiga (1992)
4. Crystal Dream 2 by Triton for MS DOS PC (1993)
5. Desert Dream by Kefrens for Amiga (1993)
6. Second Reality by Future Crew - MS DOS PC (1993)
7. Coma Light XII (12) by Oxyron - C64 Demo (1994)
8. Tower Power by Camelot - C64 Demo (TP 1994)
9. Valhalla - Solstice PC (1995)
10. Dope by Complex - PC Demo (1995)
11. Stars - Wonders of the World by Noon (MS DOS PC) (1995)
12. CAERO by Plant & Electromotive Force (EMF) - PC (1995)
13. Inside by Carillon & Cyberiad (CNCD) - PC (1996) 1st TG
14. Paper Intro by Psychic Link & Acme - PC 64K (1996)
15. Machines of Madness by Dubius PC (1996)
16. Explicit by Hornet - PC Demo (1996)
17. Project Pitchfork by Smash Designs - C64 Demo (1997)
18. Second Reality Remake by Smash Design - C64 (1997)
19. Tribes by Melon Dezign & Pulse - PC Demo (1997)
20. Triage 3 (Triage III) by Smash Designs - C64 Demo (1998)
21. Wonder by Sunflower - PC Demo (1999)
22. Deus Ex Machine by Crest & Oxyron - C64 Demo (2000)
23. Elements by Haujobb - PC Demo (TP 2001)
24. Liquid Wen by Haujobb - PC Demo (ASM 2002)
25. Squish by AND - PC 64K Intro (2002)
26. Super Killer - Text Mode Demo - PC (2002)
27. Candytron 64KB Intro (Final Version) by Farbrausch for Win32 (2003)
28. FR-025 The Popular Demo by Farbrausch - Win32 (2003)
29. Legomania by Doomsday for Windows PC (2003)
30. Zoom 3 by AND - PC 64K Intro (2003)
31. Beyond by Conspiracy - PC 64K Intro (2004)
32. Paradise by RGBA - PC 64K Intro (2004)
33. We Cell by Kewlers - PC Demo (2004)
34. The Prophecy - Project Nemesis by Conspiracy - PC 64K Intro (2004)
35. Obsoleet by Unreal Voodoo - PC Demo (2004) 
36. Planet Risk by Andromeda Software Development (ASD) - PC (2004)
37. Silkcut by The Black Lotus (TBL) - Amiga Demo (2004)
38. sts-04 - Instant Zen by Synesthetics - PC (2005)
39. Iconoclast by Andromeda Software Development (ASD) - PC (2005)
40. Parsec by Frenetic, r0K & Sonic - PC 4KB Intro (2005)
41. Final Audition by Plastic - PC Demo (2005)
42. Antidote for the Masses by ASD - PC Demo (2005)
43. Amethyst by Traction & Demarche - PC Demo (2006)
44. Deities by MFX - PC Demo (BP 2006)
45. Moonstone by Anadune & Nah Kolor - PC Demo (BP 2006)
46. The Evolution of Vision by Andromeda Software Development (ASD) - PC Demo (2006)
47. Onwards by Traction - PC Demo (2006)
48. Starstruck by The Black Lotus (TBL) - Amiga AGA (2006)
49. Track One by Fairlight (FLT) Win32 Demo (2006)
50. Desert Dream Remake by Resource and Chorus – C64 Demo (2007)
51. Fairy Tale by Traction and Brainstorm - PC Demo (BP 2007)
52. sts-01 - Lucy in the Sky with Deities by Synesthetics - PC (2007)
53. FR-041 - Debris by Farbrausch for Win32 (2007)
54. Angelic Forum by ALLien Senses (PC Demo) (2007)
55. Lifeforce by Andromeda Software Development - PC Demo (ASM 2007)
56. Stargazer by Andromeda & Orb - PC (2008)
57. Shad 3 by Cocoon for Win32 PC (2008)
58. Panic Room by Fairlight (FLT) - PC 64K (2008)
59. Rupture by Andromeda Software Development (ASD) - PC Demo (2009)
60. Lightshaft by Elude for Commodore Amiga AGA (2009)
61. Crush by Anadune & Floppy - PC (2009) 1st BP

Additional content to the subject that I can highly recommend can be found at the following previous blog post of mine that I posted over the past few years.

Additional Resources

• The History of the Demoscene
• Introduction to the World of Demos
• The Demoscene Came a Long Way
• Rupture by Andromeda Software Development and other cool Demos

I also recommend checking out the links section on my main web site. There you can find tons of resources, repositories, archives, forums and other good stuff related to the demoscene and everything else that surrounds it, such as the artscene or tracker music etc.

Take a step back and enjoy the trip back in time. There is nothing you have to do but sit back, watch and listen.

I hope that you will enjoy my little collection that I put together over a long period of time. Did I miss some great productions that MUST be included in my marvels collection? Let me know! Use the comments section below to leave a note. I’d appreciate it.

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

Razor 1911 and Dynamic Technologies – Dytec Cracktro Remakes 2009

Since it was so nice with the TRSI Intro and the new RoORS intro that I created, two more intros are coming up your way…. also created with the Oldskool Demo Maker by Peace/Testaware.

This time I created actually remakes of existing intros and did not create something entirely new.

Let’s start with the first one, which is for a group that is dear to my heart. You might also want to check out my posts related to it here at my blog: Dynamic Technologies – Dytec -  The Cracktros and Dynamic Technologies – Dytec – Introduction Continued. Okay, the name is now out in the open, lets have a look at the intro that I re-created with OSDM for them.

Dynamic Technologies Cracktro Remake by Roy/SAC in 2009

Backup Link to Video on Vimeo.com

A remake of the PC Intro for the release group Dytec - Dynamic Technologies. It was actually also used for Dynasty and for TRSI.  Well, it was not the first time that Hetero repurposed the code, design and music of an intro for another group, if the group where it was previously made more ceased to exist and wasn’t making good use of the intro before they were finished.

Credits for this intro:
----------------------------
Code: Peace/Testaware
Design: Roy/SAC
Music: "Cognition" by Jozz/TRSI

Hetero was notorious for replicating original Commodore Amiga intro designs on the PC. He did not make many friends on the Amiga with that, but a bunch of new ones on the PC instead. In the case of this intro comes the original Intro design from the release group Quartex Amiga.

You can download the RAR file, which includes this video in AVI format (XVID/MP3 640x480 pixels resolution) and the Win 32 Executable (13 MB total) at http://www.mediafire.com/?zqzjnn2iozj

You can also just download the Win32 executable separately (179 KB) at
http://www.mediafire.com/?znzzyzzznmj

The second intro that I did was for a much more famous group. Well, they released ENGLISH games and had sections on virtually any computer platform, including the Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga and PC and they started out early, in 1985 and were longer around than most other release groups.

Okay, they had their ups and downs, including a major bust wave that hit the group, but you could beat the group as much and as hard as you want to and it would simply not die and always come back. Well, it’s Razor 1911 – Sharper than a blade or your money back! Hehe.

Razor 1911 Intro Remake by Roy/SAC in 2009

 

Backup Link to Video on Vimeo.com

A Razor 1911 cracktro remake done with OSDM by Roy of Superior Art Creations.

Well, not exactly a 100% authentic remake though, but then also the "original" was not authentic to begin with... It's more like a ... mhh... remix I guess hehe. Confused? Don't be! Just trust me on this one hehe.

Credits for this Intro:
----------------------------
Intro Engine Code: Peace/Testaware
Logo Graphics: Zebig/Razor 1911
Tracker Music: TDK
Compilation and Design: Roy/SAC

You can download the ZIP file, which includes this video in .AVI format XVID/MP3 and 640x480 pixels resolution as well as the Windows 32 bit Executable version of this intro (in all 76 MB in size) at
http://www.mediafire.com/?gidjjiczmhq

I hope you enjoyed the two new intros of mine. Let me know what you think via the comments section below.

Thanks and Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

How to Turn Paying Customers into Pirates

I want to use my registered copy of Babylon 7 Pro, including the additional professional dictionaries “Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus”, “Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary and Thesaurus” and “Britannica Encyclopedia” on my new Dell laptop with MS Vista (and soon on Windows 7). This is not much to ask for you would think. Hey, I bought this stuff directly from the author of the software and paid good money for it.

I entered all license keys yesterday and everything was fine. Today all keys are gone and except for one that unlocks one of the three additional dictionaries, none is working anymore. When I entered the codes again, I received the message that I must have made a typo or something. I didn’t make a typo, thanks but no thanks.

I went to their web site at Babylon.com I used the online form to retrieve license keys that they have created for this purpose I guess, enter the captcha code and my email address and submit the form. The form neither returned an error nor acknowledged the input telling me that new and valid license keys will be send to me again. Since I also did not get an email yet, I assume that it did not work as it was intended (hint: this implies another suggestion for the folks at Babylon).

This is not the first time that I had to contact them about this. I lost count of how many different license keys I got from them for the same stuff over the past 7 plus years since I am a paying PRO user of the software*

Their paranoia about software piracy disgusts me. I should get a pirated version of your software instead, because that one is at least working.

*I am a user of the Babylon software since the mid 1990s. It used to be free for several years, when it was still in beta and I was using a cracked version when they first started to charge money for their software, without giving long time beta users a break to make the legitimate switch to the pro version. Up until version 4 they also had an Ad Ware supported version as an option, which was also free. I still have the setup files for their old version 3.2, 4.0, 5.0, 6, 7 and 7.5.2.10. The latter one is the version that I installed yesterday. I always supported them and recommended the software sincerely to friends and other people. I renewed my support once more, when I paid the full price for their PRO version in 2002 and bought upgrades and additional professional dictionaries over the years since. Now I won't buy another upgrade to version 8 anymore, because I had have it with with their crap.

I demanded (No, I did not ask nicely this time) that they are going to send me working license keys or better ONE license key for Babylon 7 Pro and the 3 pro dictionaries, which I paid them money for.

This issue with their license keys and the way that they let legitimate customers jump through hoops before they will be able to use the software does not help to win customer loyalty nor sympathy. Users don't have to put up with this, if they get the pirated version of the software. That means legitimate users get penalized for actually paying them money for a license over the ones who download the free pirated and cracked (fixed) one.

Think about it. Which version would you prefer?

The crack is an improvement of the software, a bug fix. This isn’t the first time where this is the case. As a matter of fact, many crackers get started by removing faulty copy protections from software they legitimate purchased licenses for, but were unable to use it as they intended for one reason or another, be it a compatibility issue or a use of the software in a different way than the developer originally intended.

Their paranoia does not help them to get more users to pay for their software. I would bet that the opposite is the case. At least they are not going to win any points with their paying customer base and decrease the likelihood that those existing users will recommend the software to friends and colleagues, not to mention becoming evangelists of it, as I used to be for them once. 

It’s a great translation tool that can be extended with additional custom made dictionaries that are free and were created by other Babylon users over the years. You can enable dictionaries to pull results from online or download them and install locally on your machine that you are able to use them, even if you are not connected to the Internet. The main problem that this software has is its copy protection. There is only one other thing, which does not really have to do with the main Babylon software itself, but with something else that they shovel down the throats of their customers without asking them, if they want to get it shoveled or not …

Part 2: The Babylon Toolbar Issue

After I installed Babylon Pro V7.X my Internet Explorer start pages suddenly looked like this.

Who do think they think they are that they can install their stupid browser toolbar for Internet Explorer and change my home page to their own web site at “http://search.babylon.com/home”? All that without asking for my permission of course.

They did not ask for my permission during the install of Babylon (Version 7.x, sorry, but I didn't buy a license for V8 so I don't know, if they still do it or not). I also looked at the configuration screens for the software and did not see the option to disable your toolbar and/or change my default home page back to what it was. I have not checked yet, but I am sure that they also changed my default search provider to Babylon.

This is not only arrogant and intrusive, but also unethical. They should at least have the decency to provide an easy way to remove it. Include the uninstall option in a “Babylon” folder in the start menu  for example. There they only added a shortcut to  the Babylon executable, without adding a separate folder. I’d rather have them add a folder that includes the shortcut to start Babylon, Uninstall Babylon, Uninstall the Toolbar and maybe some other useful shortcuts as well, for example shortcuts to important sections of their web site; a link to the registration/purchase form, to the license recovery form, to their support page or to their directory of dictionaries etc.

I thought at first that I have to go into the system registry manually to remove their Conduit Toolbar myself and by hand, because I didn't see it in the control panel when I was looking for it there. When I found the registry entry for it (I used the very useful and FREE tool Autoruns by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell from SysInternals). There I noticed that they installed the toolbar into a separate folder below “Program Files” (or “Program Files (x86)” in MS Vista 64bit) titled "myBabylon_English" and not to a sub folder below their main program folder “Babylon". They also labeled it "MyBabylon Toolbar" in the add/remove programs section of the control panel (“Programs and Features” in Vista). Far away from the entry for the Babylon software at least on my computer which has hundreds of entries in that list.

They should have called it "Babylon Toolbar" that it appears below "Babylon" in the control panel and put the files in a sub folder below "Babylon" in the Program Files folder where it belongs! This is not unreasonable to ask, isn’t it?  Because of their blatant behavior, I am not even considering to use their toolbar and won't even add “http://search.babylon.com/home” to my “Custom Search Providers”.

In addition to the proper labeling and location for the program files, they should extend their installation routine. During the Install of Babylon, they should include in a SEPARATE step the follow options:

[x] Install Babylon Browser Toolbar for MS Internet Explorer? [x] Change default MS Internet Explorer Homepage to Babylon Web Search (powered by Google) [x] Add Babylon Search to Custom Search Providers for Internet Explorer & Mozilla Firefox (o) Yes, I accept the terms of condition of Babylon ( ) No, I don't accept the terms of condition of Babylon. Don't install any of the items above.

Then also add a screen to the Babylon configuration settings to change those settings again.

To set the defaults options to ON during the setup wouldn't be too nice either, but they would give users at least a chance to say explicitly NO, if they want to. If they really want to do it the nice and clean (in other words, the right way), then they would set the default options to OFF and provide some convincing arguments to the user why he should turn them ON.

p.s. Now I removed the freaking toolbar via the control panel and guess what, it requires me to reboot my computer; great! That was not necessary to install it without my knowledge in the first place.

Unbelievable!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

Updates. September 28, 2009

I have not heard back from Babylon regarding my Customer Support request. I sent another message via their web form today. There I noticed something. I looked at my spam folder and got 3 messages there that coincide with the date and time when I used the contact form at the Babylon.com web site.

The messages looked like this. I “x’ed out” my email address (because of spammers):

The original message was received at Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:22:22 GMT
from localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]
   ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<help@babylon.com>
    (reason: 554 Service unavailable; Client host [213.198.65.7] blocked 
 using zen.spamhaus.org; http://www.spamhaus.org/query/bl?ip=213.198.65.7)
   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to ren.babylon.com.:
>>> DATA
<<< 554 Service unavailable; Client host [213.198.65.7] blocked using 
zen.spamhaus.org; http://www.spamhaus.org/query/bl?ip=213.198.65.7
554 5.0.0 Service unavailable
<<< 554 Error: no valid recipients
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Return-Path: <cxxxxxx@cxxxxxxxxx.com>
Received: from www.babylon.com (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1])
by ;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached 
(8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-3) with ESMTP id n8S7MMbr004826
for <help@babylon.com>; Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:22:22 GMT
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:22:22 +0000
To: help@babylon.com
From: cxxxxxx@cxxxxxxxxx.com
Reply-to: "Babylon Ltd." <info@babylon.com>, cxxxxxxx@Cxxxxxxxx.com
Subject: Other
Message-ID: <f10f88d2f31ad510c062196a9d750882@www.babylon.com>
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: PHPMailer 5.0.2 (phpmailer.codeworxtech.com)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="b1_f10f88d2f31ad510c062196a9d750882

So from what it seems, my contact emails never reached them. Also not my feedback email.

I also tried the License Retrieval form on their site again, without success. This time I notice a message appear, which I did not see last time. But that message also points to a bug with that form as well, or am I too stupid to enter a captcha code?! See for yourself and tell me, if I entered the wrong code or not.

I found an old support email from where they responded to my emails a few years ago and which also worked to contact them. I sent a copy of my form message to that email address as well. It did not bounce or generated some other error so far, so keep your fingers crossed. Man, this is just unbelievable.

I also sent an email to the addresses: press@babylon.com, bizdev@babylon.com and marketing@babylon.com, which I found on their web site. Basically a request to forward the message to somebody who is responsible for all this stuff and a link to this blog post. Lets see if that does something. Maybe the company is out of business and they forgot to shut down the web site yet. Who knows. Anything could be possible.

I will update this post again, once I got some news to report on this.

Updates October 5, 2009

• I received an Email from the PR and Content Manager at Babylon on September 29, 2009 telling me that my email was forwarded to support and that I should hear from them within 48 hours. She also asked me for my phone number, which I provided in my reply.
  
• I received an Email from Babylon Support on September 30, 2009. Responded to it with all the details that I submit via support contact form the week before on October 1, 2009. The message read like this:
  
  
  

  Thank you for taking the time to write us.
  
  I tried to reach you today but there was no answer.
  
  As I said on the message that I left you will be happy to assist you with any technical problems you have encountered, but I will need more specific details.
  
  Assuming you have Babylon installed and running on your computer, please be more specific and explain exactly what happens when you try to use or install Babylon. Do you get any error messages? If so - what are they?
  
  Thank you for your cooperation.

  
  Support was obviously not taking the time to read this post where I linked to from my email, nor did they find my contact attempts via their web contact form on September 23 and 28, 2009 (obviously).
  I provided my phone number. The contact attempt he refers to must be have been the call from a “private caller” with blocked caller ID that I received that day, but not responded to.
  Bad enough, but worse is this: No response to my direct email that I replied with to this day.
  
  
• I received another email from a different support email account and person at Babylon.com on October 3, 2009, asking virtually the same as the other support person in the email from September 30, 2009.
  
• I responded on October 4, 2009 with another copy of my email to the first support rep and also CC’ed that other rep in my response.
  
• Sent a second email to both support email accounts with my phone number to encourage them to call me again. Based on the times when they sent the emails to me, there is a good chance that they received my email today, before they left the office in Israel (where Babylon is located).
  
• The trial license to what the software switched to by itself on September 23, 2009, one day after I installed the software and applied my licenses to successfully expired by now also = The software does not run at all at this time anymore.

Update October 6, 2009

There was actually an email from Babylon support that Microsoft flagged a possible Phishing scam and that I thus just saw today, when I checked that folder. The email was sent to me on October 4, 2009 and contained instructions to reinstall the software and new license keys that worked. Again a set of multiple user name and key pairs to unlock all dictionaries and Babylon itself. They obviously check license codes by having the application connect their servers when users are connected to the Internet (hello Privacy.. Microsoft would have been tarred and feathered for this), but okay they do that, fine, why isn’t it possible then to just consolidate all my licenses into a single key and name that unlocks all of what I have licenses for at once?

Why so complicated, if it could be done easy?

I responded back to all support emails/reps that contacted me, to let them know that things are fine again (until next time) that they are not continue to try to fix something that isn’t broken anymore. The left hand does obviously not know what the right hand is doing, so I thought that I will help a little bit with that communication and coordination ;).

Until next year (I hope not, but I won’t be too optimistic)!

Imagine The Beatles in Love and 20 Years Under the Sun

Since it went so nice with my publication of the Inside La Nouba documentary, I thought that I continue and also publish some other non-available/out of print Cirque du Soleil documentaries.

Imagine – The Beatles in Love

This is the 50+ minutes long BBC documentary "Imagine, the Beatles in LOVE" about the creation of the Cirque du Soleil show "The Beatles - LOVE", which is performed at the Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It features commentary by the creators of the show, as well as the remaining Beatles members and the music producers Sir George Martin and his son Giles Martin. It also shows a lot of footage from the Cirque du Soleil show itself, acrobatics, rehearsals and more.

The documentary was broadcast on British television on December 27, 2006 and not officially released on DVD for purchase.

Check out the "Documentaries" or "Cirque on DVD" parts of my Cirque du Soleil primer article at http://www.roysac.com/cirque, which refers to a shop where you can purchase a bootleg copy of the documentary on DVD.

There you can also find the references to the great documentary about the show LOVE, which is actually available on DVD. It is called "All Together Now" and features over 2 hours of great and informative material about the show and the process of it's creation.

You can also download the entire documentary in .AVI video format (XVID/MP3, 624x368 pixels resolution) at http://www.mediafire.com/?w2dzbnznxgx (Beware! It's a 642 MB! file)

Watch the Individual Segments at YouTube.com

Note: There were some issues with the audio and video being out of sync. I re-uploaded all 6 parts of the documentary once more and it should be fine now. Please use the new links below (second bullet list). 

• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 1
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 2
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 3
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 4
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 5
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 6

• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 1 fixed
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 2 fixed
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 3 fixed
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 4 fixed
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 5 fixed
• Imagine The Beatles in Love - Part 6 fixed

Cirque du Soleil 20 Years Under the Sun

This is the 58 minutes long BBC documentary "Cirque du Soleil - 20 Years Under the Sun" from 2005 that was created because of the 20th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil in the year before (2004). The documentary does not focus on any particular production of the Cirque, it's covering the whole spectrum that existed back then in 2004/2005.

If you are looking for a DVD version of this documentary, you won't have any luck, because it is not available for purchase. It never was. It was broadcast on BBC television and that was it.

There is a DVD related to the 20th anniversary celebration of Cirque du Soleil in 2004. The special show that they did in the city where their international headquarters is located, Montreal, Canada.

It is called "Soleil de Minuit" or in English "Midnight Sun". It is not a documentary. It's a special one-time only live performance in the streets of the city. Check out the "Special Performances" and "Cirque on DVD" parts of my Cirque du Soleil primer article series at http://www.roysac.com/cirque for more information and to find out where to buy the DVD online.

You can download the entire documentary video in .AVI format, 482 MB in size, 704x400 pixels resolution, codecs: XVID/MP3, at my MediaFire.com file share at: http://www.mediafire.com/?a0wykmtizc2

Watch the Individual Segments at YouTube.com

• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 1
• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 2
• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 3
• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 4
• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 5
• Cirque du Soleil – 20 Years Under the Sun – Part 6

Enjoy!

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC and CirqueDuSoleilGuru

Cirque du Soleil Show Names and their Meanings

If you ever wondered what the often strange names of Cirque du Soleil shows mean and where they are coming from then you are not alone. Like the shows itself the name of it also has most of the time a very fascinating background story and meaning to it. Names are not chosen by Cirque quickly. Like all other elements of the show creation process, a lot of thoughts and considerations go into it.

Contents

• Alegría
• Banana Shpeel
• Believe
• Corteo
• Delirium
• Dralion
• KÀ
• Koozá
• La Magie Continue
• La Nouba
• Le Cirque Réinventé
• Love
• Mystère
• Nouvelle Expérience
• “O”
• Ovo
• Quidam
• Saltimbanco
• Soleil du Minuit
• Varekai
• Wintuk
• Zaia
• Zed
• Zumanity

Alegría is about a Kingdom without a King where everybody wants the power. The Red Man, who was the fool of the king, he thinks that he has the power. All the nostalgic beautiful birds who want the power; then you have the young and energetic and vigilant fast trackers. The flyers high up in the lights, the beautiful nymphs and contortionists all struggle for the power in this leaderless kingdom.

“Alegria” is the Spanish word for Joy, elation and jubilation.

Spelling the name:

Alegría (the “I” is a Latin lower case letter “I” with acute, Unicode: 0x00ED (237), in HTML í or í)

The show Banana Shpeel is a contemporary twist on Vaudeville in Chicago.

“Banana *peel”– from Banana Peel, a symbol of traditional slapstick comedy and the Yiddish word “Shtick”, meaning a comic theme or gimmick, derived from the German word “Stück” (Stueck), which translates to “piece” or “thing”.

Believe is the dark and gothic style magic show of Criss Angel in collaboration with Cirque du Soleil that is not like a traditional magic show that people are used to. It is also not like a traditional Cirque du Soleil show either. It is also not like Criss Angel’s TV show “Mindfreak”.

“Believe” is the secret word that the legendary magician and escape artist Harry Houdini was giving to his wife at his death-bed before he died in 1926 to enable her to expose charlatans claiming to be able to communicate with the people in the afterlife. Only he and she knew the code word and the self proclaimed mediums did not.

Corteo, which means "cortege" in Italian, is a joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown. The show brings together the passion of the actor with the grace and power of the acrobat to plunge the audience into a theatrical world of fun, comedy and spontaneity situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth.

Delirium is more like a music concert. Most of the music in the show are remixed versions of traditional and well known tracks of previous Cirque du Soleil shows. Also the acts that are performed to these remixed songs often are similar in look and feel as the act of the original show.

Delirium is a urban tale about an ordinary man (Bill) who experiences the issues of a words who is increasingly getting out of sync, believing to be just a dream. He sees reality from inside his own bubble and how it tries to find the balance between the virtualization of life that isolates people and the quest for love and harmony outside the virtual computer worlds.

Dralion is the fusion of ancient Chinese circus tradition and the avant-garde approach of Cirque du Soleil. The show's name is drawn from its two main symbols: the dragon, representing the East, and the lion, representing the West.

Dralion derives much of its inspiration from Eastern philosophy with its perpetual quest for harmony between humankind and nature.

KÀ is the story of two imperial twins who lost their parents, discover life and love on their journey to regain back their kingdom from the evil counselor and his son who invented a magic super weapon. They used this magic weapon to assume power of the people who helped them to take control over the kingdom of the twins. It is about the duality of KÀ, the power that has the ability to destroy and to create, war, love and the struggle in life itself.

KÀ stands for “Life Force” in Egyptian mythology and is one of the five parts that make up a human soul. The other four parts are LB = heart, Sheut = Shadow, REN = Name and BA = Personality.

KA is also the word for "Sun" or "King" in Sanskrit (Indian mythology), which is the title of Brahma (Hinduism).

Spelling the name:

KÀ (the “a” is a Latin capital letter “A” with grave, Unicode: 0x00C0 (192), in HTML À or À)

Koozá Is about getting back to the traditions of the Circus. It follows the centuries old structure of a circus performance, including the use of the massive door with curtains where performance appear from and disappear to between each act.

Spelling of the name:

Koozá (the “a” is a Latin lower case letter “a” with acute, Unicode: 0x00E1 (225), in HTML á or á) It can also be spelled in all upper-case letters like KOOZÅ (the “A” is a Latin capital letter “A” with a ring above, Unicode 0x00C5 (197), in HTML Å or Å)

La Magie Continue is French and translates to “The Magic Continues”

The show name La Nouba originates from the French phrase “faire la nouba,” which means to party, to live it up. It is a world where dreams and reality intertwine as the urban and circus worlds meet on stage. Blending acrobatics, dazzling choreography, whimsical characters and live music, La Nouba stimulates our imagination from beginning to end.

Le Cirque Réinventé is French and translates to English “Circus Reinvented“, which was modified to “We Reinvent the Circus”

Spelling of the name:

Le Cirque Réinventé (the first and last “e” in “Reinvente” are the Latin lower case letter “e” with acute, Unicode: 0x00E9 (233), in HTML é or é)

The Beatles “Love” starts with the last live performance of The Beatles on the roof at the Apple Studios in London on January 30, 1969. The Beatles songs itself inspired the acts of the Cirque performances, particularly their lyrics and their historic backgrounds or meanings to the individual members of the band.

The title “Love” is derived from The Beatles single “All you need is Love”, which is also the song for the shows final and closing.

Mystère is French and means "Mystery"

Spelling of the name:

Mystère (the first “e” is a Latin lower case letter “e” with grave, Unicode: 0x00E8 (232), in HTML è or è)

Nouvelle Expérience is French and translates to English “A New Experience”

Spelling of the name:

Nouvelle Expérience (the first “e” in “Experience” is the Latin lower case letter “e” with acute, Unicode: 0x00E9 (233), in HTML é or é)

“O” is inspired by the concept of infinity and the elegance of water's pure form. The name “O” also represents the expression “Oh” that humans use when they are struck with awe, excitement, surprise or pleasure.

OVO means "egg" in Portuguese. This timeless symbol of the life cycle and birth of numerous insects represents the underlying thread of the show. Graphically, OVO hides an insect in its name: The two letter "Os" represent the eyes while the letter "V" forms the nose.

Quidam is a nameless by-passer, a solitary person who lingers in the shadows ignored by normal people who rush past him without being noticed. Quidam represents nobody and everybody and the deep inner feelings and fears that are part of all of us. The young girl “Zoe” finds herself in a world of Quidam, full of anger and pain, trying to escape from it.

Quidam is Classical Latin and means "a certain; pl., some" or "anonymous passerby”.

Saltimbanco is about urban life in the city, about the high rise skyscrapers of downtown and the myriad kinds of people who are living, hustle and bustle in a modern day city.

Saltimbanco is derived from the Italian phrase “saltare in banco”, which translates to English “to jump on a bench”.

Soleil du Minuit is French and translates to English “Midnight Sun”. Although it was not exactly midnight when Cirque du Soleil performed their one-time special 20^th anniversary show in the streets of Montreal where Cirque has its head quarters; but it was already dark when the show reached its climax. The “Sun” represents the Cirque itself, the Cirque du Soleil or the Circus of the Sun.

Varekai is about the ancient Greek myth of Ikarus, who attempted to fly with wings he made out of wax and reach the sun, which melted the wings and caused Ikarus to fall from the sky as a result of it. The story of Varekai begins at the end of the ancient story with Ikarus falling from the sky into a group of forest people, which have established a stable society within the magic forest that is made of survivors, just like the circus artists themselves.

Varekai means “wherever” in the Romanian language spoken by the Gypsies, the people without a home who wander from place to place in order to survive, which is very much like circus life is.

Wintuk is a whirlwind winter adventure about a boy—Jamie—and his quest to find snow.

Jamie lives in an imaginary city where the arrival of winter has brought intense cold, but no snow! He interacts with a cast of high-energy urban street characters, including acrobats, dancers and talking lampposts. Jamie embarks on a journey to an imaginary North called Wintuk. He is joined by three companions—a female Shaman with magical powers, the girl he has fallen head over heels for and a timid young man called Wimpy, destined to discover his own courage. Jamie's goal: bring the snow back to where it belongs.

ZAIA is the dream of a young girl who journeys into space on a strange, yet familiar voyage of self-discovery. As she travels, she encounters the beauty of humanity and eventually brings it back with her to share with the inhabitants of earth.

The title of the show, “ZAIA”, comes from a Greek name meaning “life”. It also sounds close to “Gaia”, which is the name of the living and self-aware, spirit of the earth.

The name ZED is the name of the lead character of the show, the white fool called Zed. The inspiration for the show comes from the world of Tao, symbols, elements and also various characters, such as Zed.

Zumanity explores the sensual side of Cirque du Soleil and is the first and only Cirque du Soleil show that is designed for mature audiences only. It is provocative, sexual, esthetic, beautiful, lustful and emotional, touching every aspect of human sexuality that each of us wants to experience, but often does not, due to social codes that do not allow the free expression of your inner feelings and desires.

Zumanity deals with this conflict in a cabaristic way and lets people forget about the codes, at least for the duration of the show itself.

For more information about Cirque du Soleil check out my Cirque du Soleil Primer article.

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC and CirqueDuSoleilGuru on YouTube.com

More OSDM Intro Mania

More Intros/Cracktros created with the Oldskool  Demo Maker by Peace/Testaware.

First an Intro for TRSI – Tristar & Red Sector Incorporated. The main logo is based on the probably most recognized and almost legendary TRSI logo design that J.O.E. created on the Commodore Amiga for the group back in the early 1990s. I cannot remember who Thorion/TRSI made this transformation animation out of it, but it was originally created for the Commodore Amiga demo by TRSI called “We will smash you!” “Time Zone”, which was released at the Arise Summer Conference in August 1992.

I also did not create the red vector in the middle, behind the text. That one was created by D.N.S. Design for OSDM in 2007. Too bad that TRSI is not active on the PC anymore. They might could have actually used it for their releases :). Why not?!

Quick Credits

• Code: Peace
• Graphics: J.O.E./TRSI and me, Roy/SAC
• Strips Glenz Cube Vector: D.N.S. Design
• Music:  Bass/The Silents (tune from the Amiga demo “Static Chaos” by No Soul Prod./TSL DE)

• Backup Link to Video on Vimeo.com
• You can as always download the video in AVI format and this time also the Window 32bit Executable in a single ZIP archive at MediaFire.com: Download now

The second intro/cracktro is for the release group RoORS. How do you like my rain effect? I actually got the inspiration for it by looking at the classic “Matrix” effect hehe. Believe it or not, but it is just one static image that is creating this effect, no vector graphics.

The music is a shortened segment of the mod tune by Jugi for the Complex PC demo “Dope” from 1995.  It is only a segment of which I edited out of the module myself.

Quick Credits for this Intro:

• Code: Peace/Testaware
• Graphics and Direction: Roy/SAC
• Music: Jugi/Complex

• Backup link to video on Vimeo.com
• You can download this video in AVI (XVID/MP3) format (68MB) at Mediafire.com here.

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

Cirque du Soleil’s Inside La Nouba and In the Heart of Dralion

Finally, after months of searching and having an instant alert on eBay to find the documentary DVD “Cirque du Soleil: Inside La Nouba - From Conception to Perception”. Just about 1 1/2 weeks ago I got an alert that somebody is selling the DVD on eBay. I jumped on and placed my bid. The auction ended about one week ago and I was outbid. I didn’t watch the item closely at the end, because I was (and are) still working on my new computer (setup, configuration etc.).

I set my maximum bid to $15.00 and was outbid by one cent. I would have bid more and should have set a higher maximum, but well. Anyhow, I was furious when I saw that I lost the auction after all those months, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I searched eBay again, but manually and noticed a listing where I did not receive an alert yet. Two offers within one week, unbelievable.

That other seller had the “buy now” option enabled, asking for $13.99 with free shipping and handling within the United States. I couldn’t believe my luck and clicked “buy now” right away, completing the process (including payment) right there and then. Then a few days ago the DVD arrived. YEAH!

There is nothing really that special about the DVD itself, except that it is the last one that I had missing from Cirque du Soleil. I have all other show and documentary DVDs about the Canadian circus troupe already.

I actually thought that the DVD was overpriced when it was sold (I wasn’t a Cirque fan at the time when the DVD was still available for purchase). A 45 minutes long documentary for a full (or almost full) DVD price is not a good deal.

By the way, the same is actually true for the Cirque documentaries “KA Extreme” and “A Thrilling Ride Through Kooza” (latter became in its entirely a bonus feature of the Kooza show DVD, which is nice).

Cirque learned that they can do better than that, their newer documentaries: “Flow”, “Lovesick”, “Mystery of Mystere” and “All Together Now” provide great and a lot of content for your money. 

However, I was not aware of the bonus features of this DVD, which is the 24 minutes long making of documentary of an entirely different Cirque du Soleil show. That increased the value of the DVD of course. :)

Since the DVD is almost impossible to get, I made the decision to make its content available freely that people do not have to spend months of their life and jump through endless hoops in order to be able to access this content. “Sue me!” (See Disclaimer part further down below first :))

Feature: Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba Making Of Documentary

Cirque du Soleil - Inside La Nouba is a 45 minutes documentary about the creation of the show "La Nouba", which is performed live at Downtown Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida.

You can download the entire 45 documentary in one .AVI video file (XVID/MP3) in 740x480 pixels resolution (508 MB!!) at http://www.mediafire.com/?mwgzmjywjmz

You can watch the whole documentary in 5 parts on YouTube.com at my CirqueDuSoleilGuru Channel:

1. Inside La Nouba – Part 1
2. Inside La Nouba – Part 2
3. Inside La Nouba – Part 3
4. Inside La Nouba – Part 4
5. Inside La Nouba – Part 5

Btw. The show DVD of “La Nouba” comes in a 2 discs set where the second DVD is full of behind the scene footage and artist interviews. A lot of value for your bucks. Unlike the “Inside La Nouba” DVD, the show DVD is readily available for purchase:Buy La Nouba Show the DVD (at Amazon.com)

Note to this Publication/Disclaimer

I set myself the rule to not publish any videos of entire DVDs or sound tracks here at YouTube, because I think that you should go and buy it, if you want to see or hear the whole thing. Getting access to some representative examples, yes, because you should not have to buy the "cat in the bag" as we say in Germany.

I was thinking, if I should put this documentary up, because it is a DVD that used to be sold, but the latter part ("used to be", instead of "IS being") made me decide to do it. My understanding of copyright goes as far as to make sure that a creator of something gets compensated appropriately for his creative or intellectual work without being ripped off by anybody. That is fair and square, because also artists and writers need to make a living, which is tough, if everybody copies their work and nobody pays.

However, in this case the creator did make money, when he released this content first on VHS and then DVD. Then he decided not do so anymore, even after all copies in stores worldwide sold out. It is impossible to buy a new copy of this DVD anywhere. It took me over 9 months to finally being able to snatch up a used copy of it on eBay.

The content owner obviously does not have any interest in selling his content, because he would make it available for purchase, if he would have the intention. This could have been done in digital format as well. The cost and requirements to SELL the content on the Internet are virtually ZERO until an actual sale occurs. That price should cover the typically marginal cost for the content delivery and yield some profit for the owner.

Copyright is in my opinion not a tool to control access to content and information (which is in my eyes "censorship", literally) or it should not be and considered an abuse of the existing laws and to the least be seen as immoral.

Coming from a country that used to be totalitarian and engaging in censorship everywhere, I know the negative implications of it in society. This does not just include censorship of news and events, but censorship of cultural content as well. I hope that this content will not be taken down by the copyright owner or that he at least reads this video description and reconsiders, before he requests a takedown from Google.

I will remove the videos myself, if the content of the DVD happens to become available freely again for people to purchase.

I put up the same disclaimer at the video segments itself at YouTube as well. 

Bonus: Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion Making Of Documentary

Also on the DVD of Inside La Nouba is another “Making of” documentary for an entirely different Cirque du Soleil show. Cirque du Soleil - In the Heart of Dralion is a 24 min long "Making of Dralion" documentary.

Dralion tries to combine the elements of the traditional Chinese circus arts, which dates back for hundreds of years with the elements of the modern plus the theatrical and artistic touch of Cirque du Soleil.

Guy Caron, the director of Dralion talks about the unique challenges that needed to be overcome during the creation process of this Cirque du Soleil touring show. 

You can download the entire 24 minutes long documentary in 740x480 pixels resolution and AVI format (XVID/MP3), total 312 MB in size at http://www.mediafire.com/?dwf1ad1gmgn

I also put the documentary up in 3 parts at YouTube:

1. In the Heart of Dralion - Part 1
2. In the Heart of Dralion - Part 2
3. In the Heart of Dralion - Part 3 

If you liked the videos and its content, you should know that a DVD with the recording of the entire show Dralion is also available for purchase:Buy Dralion Show the DVD (at Amazon.com)

Cheers!

Carsten aka CirqueDuSoleilGuru

Want more Cirque? Visit: http://www.roysac.com/cirque

Script Tool: Process Scene Releases Version 2.1 Update

This is a quick update (and fix) for the Version 2.0 of the script that I released about 1 month ago. I wrote in detail about it here.  It is basically a useful batch script with configuration INI file to RAR and then ZIP your scene releases, add NFO and File_ID.DIZ and optional INTRO to each Release File automatically. See ReadMe.txt, which is included in the Release ZIP of the script, for details and help. Download link can be found a little bit further below.

More Bug Fixes

1. Version 2.0 of the script had a bug, if the release is only one RAR archive. This is fixed now. The script is able to handle single file releases as well as multi-file ones.
2. I did some tweaking and testing that it is not necessary anymore to use the 8.3 DOS short paths neither for the specification of the RAR and ZIP executables locations nor for the path to the data folder where you have the files that go into your release.

I also included a FILE_ID.DIZ template in this version of the release, as reference.

Download   Roy-ProcessReleases21.ZIP (365 KB)

Important Disclaimer!

The author, of this software accepts no responsibility for damages resulting from the use of this product and makes no warranty or representation, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

This software is provided "AS IS", and you, its user, assume all risks when using it.

Source Code

ProcRel2.bat

   1:  @ECHO OFF

   2:  CLS

   3:  REM Process Scene Releases V2.1

   4:  REM Batch Script by Roy/SAC (http://www.roysac.com/)

   5:  REM =================================================

   6:  REM Please Change Name and Path for the Following Variables

   7:  REM =================================================

   8:  SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

   9:  call:READINI SETTINGS ZipExe

  10:  call:READINI SETTINGS RARExe

  11:  call:READINI SETTINGS NFOFile

  12:  call:READINI SETTINGS FILEID

  13:  call:READINI SETTINGS INTROEXE

  14:  call:READINI SETTINGS BASEFILENAME

  15:  call:READINI SETTINGS RAROPT

  16:  call:READINI SETTINGS RARVOLSIZE

  17:  call:READINI SETTINGS RAREXTRA

  18:  call:READINI SETTINGS INPUTDATA

  19:  call:READINI SETTINGS RARFiles

  20:  call:READINI SETTINGS IFFILEEXISTS

  21:  Echo ---------------------------------------------------------

  22:  Echo ProcRel.INI Parameters

  23:  Echo ---------------------------------------------------------

  24:  Echo ZipExe=%ZipExe%

  25:  Echo RARExe=%RARExe%

  26:  Echo NFOFile=%NFOFile%

  27:  Echo FILEID=%FILEID%

  28:  Echo INTROEXE=%INTROEXE%

  29:  Echo BASEFILENAME=%BASEFILENAME%

  30:  Echo RAROPT=%RAROPT%

  31:  Echo RARVOLSIZE=%RARVOLSIZE%

  32:  Echo RAREXTRA=%RAREXTRA%

  33:  Echo INPUTDATA=%INPUTDATA%

  34:  Echo RARFiles=%RARFiles%

  35:  Echo IFFILEEXISTS=%IFFILEEXISTS%

  36:  Echo ---------------------------------------------------------

  37:  IF NOT EXIST %NFOFile% goto NONFO

  38:  IF NOT EXIST %FILEID% goto NODIZ

  39:  set /a zipf=0

  40:  IF "%IFFILEEXISTS%"=="ABORT" (

  41:     FOR %%Z in (%BASEFILENAME%??.ZIP) DO (

  42:       GOTO ZIPSFOUND

  43:     )

  44:  ) ELSE (

  45:     Del /Q "%BASEFILENAME%??.zip"

  46:     Echo Delete "%BASEFILENAME%??.zip"

  47:  )

  48:  Echo Just Double Checking :)

  49:  Echo -----------------------

  50:  Echo Delete "%BASEFILENAME%.part??.rar"

  51:  DEL /Q "%BASEFILENAME%.part??.rar"

  52:  Echo Delete "%BASEFILENAME%.rar" 

  53:  DEL /Q "%BASEFILENAME%.rar"

  54:  REM =================================================

  55:  Echo Create RAR Archives %1.partXX.RAR for Data Selection %2

  56:  "%RARExe%" %RAROPT% -%RARVOLSIZE% %RAREXTRA% "%BASEFILENAME%" "%INPUTDATA%"

  57:  REM =================================================

  58:  IF EXIST %BASEFILENAME%.RAR (

  59:    set /a pos=1

  60:    ren %BASEFILENAME%.rar %BASEFILENAME%.RAR>NUL

  61:    IF NOT EXIST "WORKDIR" MkDir "WORKDIR"

  62:  )

  63:  IF NOT EXIST %BASEFILENAME%.RAR (

  64:    set /a pos=0

  65:    Echo Rename %BASEFILENAME%.partXX.RAR to %BASEFILENAME%xx.RAR

  66:    For /f %%x in ('dir /on /b "%BASEFILENAME%.part*.rar"') do (

  67:      set /a pos+=1

  68:    )

  69:    if !pos!==0 goto NORAR

  70:    IF NOT EXIST "WORKDIR" MkDir "WORKDIR"

  71:    For /L %%n in (1,1,!pos!) do (

  72:      call :RenRAR %BASEFILENAME% %%n

  73:    )

  74:  )

  75:  Echo.

  76:  Echo =================================================

  77:  Echo %pos% RAR volume(s) created!

  78:  Echo =================================================  

  79:  Echo Build List of RAR Archives in Folder...

  80:  dir /B /A:-D *.RAR >!RARFiles.txt

  81:  REM =================================================

  82:  Echo Process RAR Archives...

  83:  Set REP1=TOTALFILES

  84:  IF EXIST "FILE_ID.WRK" DEL /Q "FILE_ID.WRK">NUL

  85:  Call:SandR %FILEID% FILE_ID.WRK %REP1% %pos%

  86:  SET FCNT=0

  87:  Set REP2=CURRENTFILE

  88:  FOR /F "delims=|" %%i IN (!RARFiles.txt) DO (

  89:      Echo Processing %%i

  90:      Set /a FCNT+=1

  91:      IF EXIST "FILE_ID.DIZ" DEL "FILE_ID.DIZ">NUL

  92:      Call:SandR FILE_ID.WRK FILE_ID.DIZ %REP2% !FCNT!

  93:      IF EXIST "%%i.ZIP" del "%%i.ZIP">NUL

  94:      DEL /Q WORKDIR\*.*>NUL

  95:      MOVE "%%i" "WORKDIR\%%i">NUL

  96:      IF EXIST "%NFOFile%" COPY "%NFOFile%" WORKDIR\>NUL

  97:      IF EXIST "FILE_ID.DIZ" COPY "FILE_ID.DIZ" WORKDIR\>NUL

  98:      IF EXIST "%INTROEXE%" COPY "%INTROEXE%" WORKDIR\>NUL

  99:      "%ZipExe%" -a "%%i.ZIP" "WORKDIR\*.*"

 100:      IF "%RARFiles%" == "KEEP" (MOVE WORKDIR\*.RAR>NUL)

 101:      DEL /Q WORKDIR\*.*>NUL

 102:  )

 103:  REM =================================================

 104:  Echo Build List of TEMP ZIP Files...

 105:  Dir /b *.RAR.ZIP>!ZIPfiles.txt

 106:  REM =================================================

 107:  Echo Rename ZIP Files...

 108:  REM =================================================

 109:  FOR /F "delims=." %%i IN (!ZIPfiles.txt) DO (

 110:      Echo Rename %%i.RAR.ZIP to %%i.ZIP

 111:      IF EXIST "%%i.ZIP" del "%%i.ZIP"

 112:      REN "%%i.RAR.ZIP" "%%i.ZIP"

 113:  )

 114:  REM =================================================

 115:  Echo Deleting TEMP Files...

 116:  IF EXIST !ZIPfiles.txt Del /Q !ZIPfiles.txt

 117:  IF EXIST !RARfiles.txt Del /Q !RARfiles.txt

 118:  IF EXIST "FILE_ID.WRK" DEL /Q "FILE_ID.WRK">NUL

 119:  IF EXIST "FILE_ID.DIZ" DEL /Q "FILE_ID.DIZ">NUL

 120:  RmDir WORKDIR>NUL

 121:  ECHO =================================================

 122:  ECHO Done!

 123:  ECHO =================================================

 124:  Echo.

 125:   Pause

 126:  goto END

 127:   

 128:  REM =============================================

 129:  REM PROCESSING FUNCTIONS

 130:  REM =============================================

 131:  :READINI

 132:  Set key=%~2

 133:  call:strLen key len

 134:  Set /a "len+=1"

 135:  set yfs=

 136:  set ymn=

 137:  for /f "tokens=*" %%i in ( ProcRel.ini ) do (

 138:    set ywv=%%i

 139:    if /i "!ywv!"=="[%1]" (

 140:       set yfs=Y

 141:     ) else (

 142:       set ywv=!ywv:~0,%len%!

 143:       if defined yfs (

 144:          if not defined ymn (

 145:            if /i "!ywv!"=="%2=" ( 

 146:              set ymn=%%i

 147:              set ymn=!ymn:~%len%!

 148:            )

 149:          )

 150:       )

 151:     )

 152:  )

 153:  Set %~2=%ymn%

 154:  GOTO :EOF

 155:  REM =============================================

 156:  :strLen -- returns the length of a str, max 1023

 157:  ::      -- %~1: in - varible name of a string variable

 158:  ::      -- %~2: out- string length

 159:  SETLOCAL

 160:  set str=A!%~1!

 161:  set len=0

 162:  set /a n=1024

 163:  set /a n^>^>=1, len+=n

 164:   if !str:~%len%!. == . set /a len-=n

 165:  set /a n^>^>=1, len+=n

 166:   if !str:~%len%!. == . set /a len-=n

 167:  set /a n^>^>=1, len+=n

 168:   if !str:~%len%!. == . set /a len-=n

 169:  set /a n^>^>=1, len+=n

 170:   if !str:~%len%!. == . set /a len-=n

 171:  set /a n^>^>=1, len+=n

 172:   if !str:~%len%!. == . set /a len-=n

 173:  set /a n^>^>=1, len+=n

 174:   if !str:~%len%!. == . set /a len-=n

 175:  set /a n^>^>=1, len+=n

 176:   if !str:~%len%!. == . set /a len-=n

 177:  set /a n^>^>=1, len+=n

 178:   if !str:~%len%!. == . set /a len-=n

 179:  set /a n^>^>=1, len+=n

 180:   if !str:~%len%!. == . set /a len-=n

 181:  set /a n^>^>=1, len+=n

 182:   if !str:~%len%!. == . set /a len-=n

 183:  ( ENDLOCAL & REM RETURN VALUES

 184:      IF "%~2" NEQ "" SET %~2=%len%

 185:  )

 186:  GOTO:EOF  

 187:  REM =============================================

 188:  :SandR

 189:  REM Search And Replace

 190:  SETLOCAL

 191:  for %%i in (%1) do (

 192:    for /f "tokens=1,* delims=]" %%a in ('"type %%i|find /n /v """') do (

 193:      set "line=%%b"

 194:      if defined line (

 195:          call set "line=echo.%%line:%3=%4%%"

 196:          for /f "delims=" %%X in ('"echo."%%line%%""') do %%~X>>%2

 197:      ) ELSE echo.>>%2

 198:    )

 199:  )

 200:  ENDLOCAL

 201:  goto :eof

 202:  REM =================================================

 203:  :RenRAR

 204:  IF EXIST "%1.part%2.rar" ( 

 205:       ren "%1.part%2.rar" "%1%2.RAR"

 206:       echo ren "%1.part%2.rar" "%1%2.RAR"

 207:  ) else (

 208:     IF EXIST "%1.part0%2.rar" ( 

 209:         ren "%1.part0%2.rar" "%10%2.RAR"

 210:         echo ren "%1.part0%2.rar" "%10%2.RAR"

 211:      )

 212:  )  

 213:  GOTO :EOF

 214:   

 215:  REM =================================================

 216:  REM ERROR MESSAGE FUNCTIONS

 217:  REM =================================================

 218:  :NORAR

 219:  echo.

 220:  Echo Error!

 221:  echo Error! No RAR Archives with the file names

 222:  echo %BASEFILENAME%.partXX.RAR

 223:  echo were Created!

 224:  goto END

 225:  REM =================================================

 226:  :NONFO

 227:  echo.

 228:  Echo Error!

 229:  echo NFO-File %NFOFile% not found!

 230:  goto END

 231:  REM =================================================

 232:  :NODIZ

 233:  echo.

 234:  Echo Error!

 235:  echo File_ID.DIZ Template File NOT Found at %FILEID%

 236:  goto END

 237:  REM =================================================

 238:  :ZIPSFOUND

 239:  echo.

 240:  Echo Error! (ABORT Parameter specified)

 241:  Echo Current directory contains already one or more ZIP files 

 242:  Echo with the name: %BASEFILENAME%??.ZIP 

 243:  goto END

 244:  REM =================================================

 245:  :END

 246:  REM Finished!

 247:  Echo.

 248:  Goto :EOF

ProcRel.ini

Sample INF configuration file

   1:  [SETTINGS]

   2:  ;or C:\PROGRAM FILES\WinXXX under XP

   3:  ZipExe=C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\WinZip\WZZIP.EXE

   4:  RARExe=C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\WinRAR\RAR.EXE

   5:  NFOFile=COOLGROUP.nfo

   6:  FILEID=File_ID.TMP

   7:  INTROEXE=CoolIntro.exe

   8:  BASEFILENAME=TEST

   9:  ;a=add, use rn to move Input Data instead

  10:  RAROPT=a

  11:  ;v98078k (100MB), v4096k (4 MB) etc. 

  12:  RARVOLSIZE=v98078k

  13:  RAREXTRA=-m5 -r

  14:  INPUTDATA=C:\RELEASE FILES\COOL RELEASE\*.*

  15:  ;DEL or KEEP

  16:  RARFiles=DEL

  17:  ;ABORT or OVERWRITE

  18:  IFFILEEXISTS=ABORT

Again, everything is included in the release ZIP archive of the script, which you can download below.

Download   Roy-ProcessReleases21.ZIP (365 KB)

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

Cirque du Soleil File Archive

This article is part of my Cirque du Soleil primer articles series.

I made over the time a huge amount of content related to Cirque du Soleil available for download at various places. To make things easier to find, I also store most of my stuff at my file sharing account at MediaFire.com.

The good thing about MediaFire.com is that you do not stupid delays or other hoops to jump through in order to download files, without creating an account (free or paid). Downloads start right away, the only thing that you get are some Ads and a pop-up, which is a bit annoying, but very little hassle in comparison what you get in return for it.

The files are sorted into various sub folders to make it easier to find the stuff that you are interested in. The files that I have available are primarily video footage of Cirque du Soleil shows, special events and other productions, as well as photos, images and a bunch of audio material as well.

No, you won’t find there the show DVDs or soundtrack CDs for download. Those are available for purchase, so please don’t be so cheap and buy those releases instead of trying to download an illegal copy of it. They don’t cost very much.

If you are not sure, if you should buy a DVD or Soundtrack, then I might be able to help you, because the material that I do have available provides a good glimpse of what to expect from the recording products and of course the live shows itself.

The File Archive Folder Structure

A good place to start is the main root directory for my Cirque du Soleil files at MediaFire.com:

Cirque du Soleil File Share Root Folder

Beneath that you will find a number of sub directories as follow:

• Cirque General Videos
  Here you can find videos that are about Cirque du Soleil in general, including Ads that promote merchandise of multiple shows. This folder has two additional sub-folders, where you can find files to the “Then and Now Video Series” and also “Cirque du Soleil Logos” (Videos for credits and intros etc.)
  
  
• Cirque Images Packs
  This folder contains collections of images and photographs packed as RAR archives; sorted/grouped by shows and special purposes, like wall papers, banners and product images.

  All in all, well over 1.5 Gigabytes of photos and images, packed with WinRAR into over 25 separate archives, by shows and individual subject. Some archives are small and only a few megabytes, but the larger ones are well beyond 100 Megabytes in size.

• Cirque Music Audios
  Live snippets and previously unreleased tracks (missing on official soundtrack CDs) from various Cirque du Soleil productions in MP3 format.

  This folder has also over a dozen sub folders, typically for each of the shows where there is audio material available for download.

• Cirque Shows Videos
  Videos related to the individual touring and resident shows of Cirque du Soleil around the globe.
  This folder has a bunch of sub folders for each individual show, such as:
  
  
  
• Past Shows  (such as Nouvelle Experience, Le Grand Tour, La Magie Continue etc.)
• "O"
• Alegría
• Banana Shpeel aka Vaudeville
• Believe (Criss Angel)
• Corteo
• Delirium
• Dralion
• Elvis
• KA
• Kooza
• La Nouba
• Love (The Beatles)
• Mystere
• Ovo
• Quidam
• Saltimbanco
• Varekai
• Wintuk
• Zaia
• Zed
• Zumanity
  

• Cirque Specials Videos
  Videos of special events or performances by Cirque du Soleil. Note: Specials that only involve 1 show can be found in their respective show folders instead.

  There are two additional sub folders:
  
  

  • About Cirque, which has videos ABOUT and not OF Cirque du Soleil, like news reports and also parodies etc. 
  • Carsten - Cirque du Soleil - This sub folder contains all the videos, where you can see and hear me talking about various subjects related to Cirque du Soleil, including product reviews etc.
    
    
• Cirque TV Productions Videos
  Videos of Cirque du Soleil productions for Television and Movie Theaters, like IMAX. Videos of productions related to a specific Cirque show can be found in the respective show folder instead. There are two sub folders in this directory:
  
  
  • Journey of Man
  • Solstrom
    
    
  Note: The Alegría "The Movie" videos are located at the folder about the Alegría show.
  
  
• Acrobatics General (Non-Cirque)
  Non-Cirque du Soleil acrobatics videos that I created (edited)

 

Notes to the Videos/Video Format (Encoding/Codecs)

• Most videos are encoded using the free XVID video codec for the video data and standard Mpeg-1 Layer 3 (MP3) for the audio. The XVID codec does not come with Windows by default and must be installed separately. You can download the necessary software at this web site, for free. There is also the version for Mac OS X for all the Macintosh users out there. Alternative download locations and additional versions like for SuSE Linux or Debian at Xvid.org or Koepi.info.
• Some videos are also in Windows Media Video format (.WMV), which is supported automatically for all Windows 32/64 Bit versions like XP, Vista and Windows 7.
• Macintosh users need to download a free add-on for Apple’s QuickTime player in order to be able to play back those videos. You can download the software at this web site.

Supplemental Resources Related to Video/Audio

• General resources to video and video codecs can be found on the Internet, at communities like Doom9.net. For Windows users might be my Guide to Video and Audio for Microsoft Windows of interest.
• For YouTube fans: How to Download Videos from YouTube (a Guide)
• If you are interested in doing something with video yourself and would like to know which tools I am using for capturing video, converting and editing, check out my post “Video Editing, Ripping, Converting and Capture Tools for the PC”

 

Cirque du Soleil Articles in this Series

• Main Cirque du Soleil Primer Article
• Cirque du Soleil - Historic Time-Line 1984 to Present
• The Cirque du Soleil Story - Odyssea - The dreamer's Odyssey
• Cirque du Soleil Touring Shows (Complete List)
• Cirque du Soleil Resident Shows (Complete List)
• Cirque du Soleil Arena Shows (Complete List)
• Cirque du Soleil Special Events & Performances
• Cirque du Soleil Releases for TV and IMAX
• Cirque du Soleil Documentaries (Complete List)
• Cirque du Soleil DVD Releases (Complete List)
• Cirque du Soleil Music Releases (Complete List)
• Cirque du Soleil File Archive (Videos, Audio and Images)

Happy downloading! I hope that you will enjoy the content that I made available for you.

Cheers!

Carsten aka your YouTube’s CirqueDuSoleilGuru

This article is part of my Cirque du Soleil primer articles series.